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Copyright, 1887, by George Thornton. 



Everett Waddey, 

Printer and Binder, 

Richmond, Va. 



X, 



THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO THE FRIENDS 
OF MY DECEASED WIFE. 

GEORGE THORNTON. 



CONTENXS 



Page 

In Memoriam 7 

The Ivj' 19 

Regret 21 

Lights of Home 23 

After Long Years 24 

Sweet Sixteen 26 

To Adele 27 

Parting Token ' ' 29 

Buttercups 30 

Waiting 32 

"In the Bright Consummate Flower" 34 

Home and Friends 35 

■Fragmentary Thoughts 37 

Little Stranger 38 

Friendship 39 

It Came at Last 40 

The Angel of Nature 41 

Sometime 43 

An Old Farm House 45 

Tear and Smile 47 

Fancy 40 

Her Rest is Sweet 50 

Self-Abnegation 51 

Hope Deferred 53 

A Question 55 



CONTENTS. 

Page 

Bridges— A Contrast 5Q 

Faith 63 

Saints and Sinners • • • • ^'^ 

When Love is Kind 67 

Sadness ^9 

To a Friend 7^ 

The True Gentleman 73 

Charity 75 

My Thought 77 

The Mountaineer's Prayer 80 

On the Sea of Life 82, 

Write Soon ^4 

Grief Was Sent Thee for Thy Good 86 

Bewildering Eyes 88 

Parted , 9° 

A Simile 92 

If There Be 93 

The Old Churchyard 94 

A Common Woman 9^ 

Memory 98 

Heaven 1°^ 

A Fragment i°3 




IN MEMORIAM. 



By Rev. Dr. C. R. DEENIS. 



After the reading of the burial service, Dr. Deenis 
said: 

" Ordinarily at funeral services it is not wise, because 
it is not profitable, to speak much of the departed. 
There is no skill of eloquence to make a bereaved heart 
close down more tenderly over the memory of the be- 
loved than it does of its own accord. There is no painter 
who can portray the character of a beloved departed to 
make it seem more beautiful in form and more rich in 
color than it does now to the eyes that look at it through 
the tears of wounded affection. And yet somehow we 
do linger around even the garment which some puri- 
fied spirit throws off as it mounts to God ; and as we 

7 



IN MEMORIAM. 

think upon these things, we Christians — who believe that 
Christ is the resurrection and the life, who believe in 
the blessed inevitability spoken of by the Apostle Paul, 
that this corruptible must put on incorruption, that 
this mortal must put on immortality — feel that it is not 
a thing to be desired because it enters in the order of 
nature, but because it comes to us in the order of Christ. 

"We sometimes wonder at ourselves that we cling to 
the departing — hold them back, longing to keep them 
here, clinging tenderly to them, not willing to let the 
mortal put on immortality — and yet when we come to 
bereavements in our experience it is always the case. 

"As I have been sitting by these precious remains, 
meditating upon a life which seems from childhood to 
have been marked with bereavements constantly, I have 
said to her. How you have clung to your beloved and 
yet how they have gone ! We know that the process 
of living is a process of dying, and that the dying of 
the body, which sets the spirit free, is not a curse to it, 
but really a blessing, and yet how reluctant to yield ! 
Looking upon the face of our beloved friend to-day has 
taken me back to childhood, because there was a cler- 
gyman to whom she was so devoted, who was my col- 
lege friend, a gifted young man, who came from the 

8 



IN AIEMORIAM. 

same town with me to college, and there we prayed to- 
gether and consecrated ourselves to Christ. Afterwards, 
when he became a Bishop, we were in different brandies 
of Christ's Church, but I can recollect how it was when 
I left college, and it seemed so hard to him that 1 should 
go out into the world while he staid behind. And so 
from childhood to old age we have been holding our 
beloved back, as Cod has called them forward. And 
yet when 1 come to think of it that is very natural ; 
we hold them back just as the earth holds back the 
seed, but while it holds it back it quickens and that 
seed must spring up. It is the Apostle's figure, 'Tt 
may chance of wheat or of some other grain,' and with 
that new-old body it mounts out of the dark chaml)ers, 
in which the present life has hidden the soul, into the 
broad and blessed sunlight of the life immortal. 

"And this thing came to me with more force just now 
as I was reading this little poem, which I am going to 
read to you — a poem written by those hands, folded 
now, stiff now, hands which struck the lyre of earthly 
music, now become spiritual hands, striking the harps 
of heavenly music. This is what she wrote, prophetic 
of what has come to her : 



IN MEMO R I AM. 

" 'Pushing the clods of earth aside, 

Leaving the darl?, where the foul things hide, 

Spreading its leaves to the summer sun, 

Bondage ended, freedom won ! 

O, my soul, like the ivy be. 

Rise, for the sunshine calls for thee ! 

" ' Climbing up as the seasons go, 
Looking down on things below. 
Twining itself in the branches high, 
As if the frail thing owned the sky ; 
Look up, my soul, like the ivy be— 
Heaven, not earth, is the place for thee !' 

"And so tlown here — down here in this world, even 

through sweetest domestic surroundings, which some 

of us men, thank ( ;od,do have so abundantly — she heard 

the call to sunshine and slie has risen and angels see 

her now breaking tlie clod and climbing u}) to God. 

Wliat a grand idea that is. Beloved ! Heaven, not earth, 

is the i)lace for us, and so tlie Saviour said, 'I goto 

I>repare a i)lace for you;' and as is natural every man 

seeks his place, every woman seeks her place, and if 

Heaven be her place, wiiy should not her spirit be 

there? ]\Liy I read another stanza? 

" 'Wrapping itself 'round the giant oak. 
Hiding itself from the tempest stroke. 
Strong and brave is the fragile thing. 
For it knows a secret— how to cling ! 
So, my soul, there's strength for thee, 
Hear the Mighty One : ' Lean on me ! ' 



/yy MEMO RTAM. 

" ' Green are the leaves when the world is white, 
For the ivy sings through the frosty night, 
Keeping the hearts of oak awake 

Till the flowers shall bloom and the spring sliall break ! 
Thus, O my soul, through the winter's rain. 
Sing the sunshine back again ! ' 

" And she liatli clung like an ivy around the heart of 
her husband. How often she has sung sweetness into 
that heart! Do you not think tliis last stanza very 
beautiful? 

" ' Opening its green and fluttering breast 
To give the timid birds a nest. 
Coming out from the winter wild. 
To make a wreath for the Holy Child.' 

"Isn't it wonderful how near this Christmas season 
came to her? 

" 'To make a wreath for the Holy Child— 
Oh, let my soul like the ivy be— 
A help to the world and a wreath for thee ! ' 

" I think that is a poem that deserves to live in Ameri- 
can literature. While Ave cling to one another let us be 
held up by the blessed inevital)ility. We go forw^ard, 
for the seed must rise and the seed must grow and the 
seed must come into sunshine. 



IN MEMORIAM., 

" I think here are some verses written by her that 
have never been printed ; they are probably the hist 
things she wrote. I shouhl think they would be an 
unspeakable comfort to our beloved brother, the be- 
reaved one, who is more than usually afflicted because 
one more than usually bright and gifted has been 
taken from him. I will read her little poem called 
' Sometime.' 

" ' Life does not find completeness here, 
We grasp at things too far away, • 
And overlook the gladness near 
In dreaming of a coming day. 

" ' We love and lose, we strive and fail ; 

We dream— and dreams are idle things ; 
The tree falls earthward in the gale. 
To which some vine for safety clings. 

" ' Oh, silent tears! oh, weary hands! 
Oh eyes that ever look afar ! 
Somewhere, I trust, in happier lands, 
Life lifts for you its morning star.' 

"Ah, my sister, your eyes already are gazing at that 
mornins; star. 



11 1 



Sometime, for those who trusting wait. 
Shall the white flowers of gladness blow, 

And Heaven most fully compensate 
For all the losses earth can show.' 



IN M E M O R I A M. 

''Beloved, let that be our comfort. Let us tru.st in 
God. Let us commit this beautiful spirit into the 
hands of our Heavenly Father. It seems to be a 
strange providence that the sweet and the gifted and 
the good go, and so many of us men and women, that 
feel so dry and hard and useless and fruitless to the 
world, are left alive. Sometimes when a beautiful 
soul, closely allied to us, has passed into eternity, have 
we not felt ashamed to be alive when that friend was 
dead? Now,, dear friends, our Christian religion comes 
to us. I do not understand, and I do not pretend to 
explain to any man, how it is that any man lives and 
keeps from being mad who does not believe that Jesus 
Christ told the truth when he said, 'Jam the resur- 
rection and the life;' for if that be not true, men and 
women, we have no promise of immortality. There is 
nothing in science to help us out. Science cannot help 
us to any knowledge of the origin and destinies of our 
humanity. The heart may be full of hopes of innnor- 
tality as the hearts of tlie old philosophers in Greece 
were, and yet there is no knowledge of it. There is no 
assurance. All that is said and written by the most 
gifted men is poetry and mere rhapsody and mere 
rhetoric, at the best. I tell you if God has not some time 
out of Heaven given us a knowledge of our immortality, 

13 



IN ME MORI AM. 

there is no way, that I know, to learn whether immor- 
talit>' Ije a (h\^ara or a fact. If I do not believe that 
Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life, I have no 
basis for the faith anywhere in any part of my mental 
or moral constitution. When Jesus Christ comes and 
says, ' I am the resurrection. He that believeth in 
me, thouii;h he were dead, yet shall he live ; and who- 
soever liveth and believeth in me shall not die forever,' 
then T have some hope. In that hope this l)eloved 
gifted woman lived; in that hope she died, and the last 
line in this very beautiful poen^, which I tirst read to 
vou, seemed to be fulfilled in her last moments in an 
extraordinary manner. 8he prayed that her soul might 
l)e a help to the w(jrld and a wreath for Christ, and so 
when she was in that last illness she plead with the 
doctor that she might be spared for her husband's 
sake, a hel}) to the world ; and when that could not be 
she laid her soul on Jesus as a wreath for his blessed 
head. So may ijo^fv life be, and so may be mine. 

"Brethren, hear once more the exhortation of the 
Apostle : ' Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead- 
fast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of 
the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is 
not in vain in the Lord.'" 



14 



5% 




POKMS 









THE IVY. 

USHINCl the clods of earth aside, 
Leaving the dark, where the foul things liide. 
Spreading its leaves to the summer sun. 
Bondage ended, freedom won! 

0, my soul, like the ivy be, 

Rise, for the sunshine calls for thee ! 




Climbing up as the seasons go. 

Looking down on things below, 

Twining itself in the branches high. 

As if the frail thing owned the sky ! 

Look up, my soul, like the ivy be — 

Heaven, not earth, is the place for thee 

19 



THE IVY. 

Wrapping itself 'round the giant oak, 
Hiding itself from the tempest stroke. 
Strong and brave is the fragile thing, 
For it knows a secret — how to cling ! 
So, my soul, there's strength for thee. 
Hear the Mighty One: " Lean on me! " 

Green are the leaves when the world is white. 

For the ivy sings through the frosty night, 

Keeping the hearts of oak awake 

Till the flowers shall bloom and the spring shall break ! 

Thus, my soul, through the winter's rain. 

Sing the sunshine back again ! 

Opening its green and fluttering breast 

To give the timid birds a nest. 

Coming out from the winter wild 

To make a wreath for the Holy Child — 

Oh ! let my soul like the ivy be — 

A help to the world and a wreath for Thee! 




REGRET. 

E mourn over years that have ^'anished 
So foolishly wasted and lost, 
AVith sorrow we sink down astonished, 
AVhile counting: what follies have cost. 



No toil or heroic endeavor 

Can make those bare deserts bloom ; 
Saharas they shall be forever, 

No effort can alter their doom. 

Affrighted and trembling, some falter, 
And weakly or cowardly die ; 

Some vow by the morrow to alter, 
Unheeded the present glides by. 



REGRET. 

Oh! waste not the moments in sighing, 
Now use all the strength you possess ; 

Have done with your weeping and crying, 
For God doth insure you success. 

Our anguish may prove a rich hlessing, 
The soil we watered with tears 

May blossom with fragrance refreshing, 
To p'ladden our remnant of vears. 



If taught Ijy tlie past Ave awaken, 
And fully the present employ, 

All errors and follies forsaken, 

Our lives may yet blossom with joy. 





LIGHTS OF HOME. 

FAR the wanderer sees them glow, 
Now night is near; 
U They gild his path with radiance clear, 
Sweet lights of home. 

When my brief day of life is o'er, 

Then may I see, 
Shine from the "Heavenly House" for me. 

Dear lights of home. 




23 




AFTER LONG YEARS. 

ET my poor heart be, old friend, 

You would not step upon a grave! 
Why seek that hard-earned peace to rend, 
Long hours of weary silence gave? 

We meet to-night with ceaseless speech, • 
Who parted last with scorn and tears, 

And strive with clasping hands to meet 
Across the gulf of vanished years. 

But all too wide that deep abyss, 

We opened in our bitter pride. 

And in it lies the youth we miss 

While gazing down on either side. 
24 



AFTER LONG YEARS. 

And mourn the waste and bitter loss, 
For which regret has come too late, 

For nevermore may we recross 

The broken plank that men call Fate. 

Then, since our pathways separate tend, 
Ah, let the past in sorrow rest; 

My thoughts go with you to the end, 
I wish you all life's gifts and best. 

But as for me each starved desire 

Turns from its vainly answered prayer ; 

To ashen-gray dies passion's fire. 
And hope lies buried in despair. 




25 




SWEET SIXTEEN. 

S Peter sat at Heaven's gate 
A maiden sought permission, 
And begged of him, if not too late, 
To give lier free admission. 

"What claims hast thou to enter here?" 

He cried, with sternest mien, 
"Please, sir," said she, 'twixt hope and fear, 

"I am only just sixteen." 

" Enough ! " the hoary guardian said. 

And the gate wide open threw, 

"That is the age when every maid 

Is girl and angel too." 
26 




TO ADELE. 

SEE thee not as when we met, 

In childhood's years, remembered now; 
Scarce fourteen summers then had set 

Their sunlight on thy beauteous brow. 

Oh, what a change ! And canst thou be 
The same sweet child of modest worth? 

Even beauty wandering bows to thee, 
The bright-eyed angel of the earth. 

Thou art blooming now, to thee is given 

The beauty of those forms above, 

Thine eye is lit with light from Heaven 

And bliss is on thy lip of love. 
27 



TO ADELE. 

But ah ! thou hast a charm refined, 

Far, far above the aid of art. 
The virtues of thy heavenly mind 

And friendly feelings of thy heart. 

Fair Adele! Let me still enjoy 

Thy friendship, dear as other's love, ■ 

And may it bind without alloy 

Our hearts, in Heaven's high halls above. 

May bliss be thine in beauty's bower, 
A stranger still to sorrow's tears, 

And may sweet Friendship's fairest flowers 
Adorn thy paths through future years. 




28 



PARTING TOKEN. 




To Mrs. Geo. Alger, London, England. 

IS hard when heart unites with heart, 
Tlie sad adieu must then be spoken ; 
Alas ! that friends from us must part 
And all life's tender ties be broken. 

But no sad thoughts like these shall enter 
The friendly heart that still is thine; 

Fond memories of the past shall centre 
And a bright wreath of hope entwine. 

Then, though by distance we are parted, 

Yet, in our thoughts we oft may meet; 

Forever may the faithful-hearted 

Be joined by bonds of friendship sweet. 
29 




BUTTERCUPS. 

REEN are the meadows o'er; the touch of 
spring 
Is on the earth, its perfume in the air; 
In yon clear brook the swallow dips his wing 

And orchard trees their loads of blossom bear; 
Scattered in lavish wealth o'er mead and field 

The buttercups in golden beauty show, 
Their burnished globes in tender pressure yield 

To us, as once again we younger grow 
And mark the tramp of little toddling feet, 
The glowing rosy cheeks, the eager eyes, 
The baby laughter and the prattle sweet 

Of children, seizing each their shining prize; 
30 



BUTTERCUPS. 

Not flowers of cost as are exotics rare, 

Flowers to be purchased only by much gold, 
Not flowers to rest within a court belle's hair 

Or make a fair bride fairer twenty-fold ; 
But flowers to deck a village maiden's breast, 

A simple beauty, fairest unadorned, 
Or be by childhood's dimpled fingers pressed — 

Nature's gold cuplets by the -wealthy scorned. 
Bright buttercups, they mind of the days 

When we no farther looked than childhood's hours. 
Be this my simple song, sung in your praise, 

Simplest, yet dearest of our sweet spring flowers. 





WAITING. 

AITING for what? Shall I ever know? 
Or shall the New Year creep drowsily by 
'Till my death day comes? Shall I never 
know why 

I was born and must live out my life of woe? 

Is the whole of my lifetime merely a pause 

'Twixt my birth that was and my death to be? 
Must I always follow and never be free? 

Am I only effect? Can I never be cause? 

Or, am I but a link of the weariful chain 

Of life and the sequence of things gone by? 

I am forced to live, I cannot die, 

But my life is empty and all in vain. 
32 



WAITING. 

Yet sometimes I hear my spirit elate, 

At the thoughts of the glorious deeds to be done, 
Cry, "Strike! 'Tis the time!" But in answer, One- 
Shall 1 ever know who? whispers, "Silence! ^^^ait." 

It cannot be Hope, for her voice is subtle and sweet; 

It is not Despair, for 1 know her well ; 

'Tis like the ceaseless drone of a knell. 
And wearies the heart witli monotonous beat. 

Shall another voice ever \\'hisper to me: 

"Awake! 'Tis the hour; go forward and fight, 
Thy probation is ended, and impotent night 

Has burst into day!" So, shall set me free? 

I knoM' not, I know not, this only I dread, 

That ere that voice shall proclaim the hour — 
Not only the will may be lost, but the power. 

And I may be cold with the nameless dead. 



nN THE BRIGHT CONSUMMATE FLOWER." 

LOWERS are the bright things which earth 
On her broad bof>om loves to cherish ; 
(lay they appear, as children's mirth — 
Like fading dreams of hope, they perish. 




By them the lover tells his tale, 

The}" can his hopes, his fears, express; 

The maid, when words or looks would fail, 
Can thus a kind word confess. 



Then, lady, let the flowers we bring 
For thee a wreath of beauty twine, 

And as the blossoms deck the Spring, 
So every tender wish be thine. 

34 




HOME AND FRIENDS. 

HERE is a power to make each hour 
As sweet as Heaven designed it ! 
Nor need we roam to bring it home, 
Though few there be that find it ! 
We seek too high for things close by, 

And lose what nature found us ; 

For life hath here no bliss so dear 

As home and friends around us. 

We oft destroy our present joy 

With future hopes, and praise them, 

While flowers as sweet bloom at our feet, 
If we'd but stoop to raise them. 
35 



HOME AND FRIENDS. 

For things afar still sweeter are, 

When youth's bright spell hath bound us; 
But, soon we're taught the earth hath naught 

Like home and friends around us. 

The friends that speed in time of need. 

When hope's last reed is shaken, 
Do show us still, that come what will, 

We are not quite forsaken. 
Though all were night, if but the light 

From Friendship's altar crowned us. 
There is no bliss on earth like this — 

Our home and friends around us. 




36 



FRAGMENTARY THOUGHTS. 

S the western clouds are tinged with gold 
even after the sun is lost to view, so does 
the memory of a kind act bring a smile to 
the face when its author is forgot. 




37 




LITTLE STRANGER. 

ELCOME, welcome, little stranger 

To our midst. Where hast thou been ? 
Hast thou come from any danger? 

With eyes so calm. What hast thou seen? 

We greet thee with kisses ever sweet, 
And long to hear thy little story — 

Told by lips we will often greet 
With love's most earnest glory. 

Have the fair, bright angels spared 

Thee from their countless throng 
To shed thee — Sunbeam? How they dared 

Thou must tell the story in thy song. 
38 




FRIENDSHIP. 

IQW oft I have dreamed of friendship, 
For friendship I had thought was made 
To be a woman's sohice in the shade, 
And ghid her in the light, and so 

I madly thought to find a friend 

Whose soul with mine wou.ld sweetly blend. 

And as two placid streams unite, 

And roll their waters in one bright 

And tranquil current to tiie sgi^, 

So might our happy spirits be 

Borne onward to eternity ; 

But she betrayed me, and with pain 

I woke, to sleep and dream again. 
39 



IT CAME AT LAST. 




T came at last, the missive white, 
After a long, long time. 
It tills my soul with fond delight, 
And memory's bell rings clear to-night, 
And very sweet its chime. 




40 



THE ANGEL OF NATURE. 




home hath she, all hoiiK's are hers, 

Her wreathed gift.s she takes in tAvain, 
J To one her joy she ministers, 
To one her ecstacy of pain ; 
Or, may be, drops them twined in one 
Until their chequered use is done. 

Where want has ground the earth to dust 
And heartache settles on the cheek, 

She offers not the needed crust 

To feed the hungry and the weak ; 

Yet, with the light of ripening fields, 

Her smile the thought of plenty yields. 
41 



THE ANGEL OF NATURE. 

She walks the streets that maidens frail 
Have trodden since the nights of old. 
But wades not through the mirv trail, 
Pier feet are clean as hidden gold; 

They move as o'er the virgin snows, 
Yet in her step all passion glows. 



f?5^ 




42 



soMEa:rME. 




in*' (Iocs not find ('omplctcucss here, 
Wv oras]) ill lliiiius too far away, 
And overlook the gladness near 
In drcandnu' of a- coiiiinp- daA'. 



We love and lose, we strive and fail; 

We di-eani — and dreams are idle thinos; 
The tree falls earthward in the ,Ucde 

To whieli some vine for safetv elino's. 



Oh, silent tears! oh, weary hands! 

Oh, eyes that ev(U' look afar! 

Somewhere, T trust, in hap])ier lands 

Life lifts for you its morning star. 
43 



SOMETIME. 

Sometime, for those who trusting wait, 
Shall the white flowers of gladness blow, 

And Heaven most fully compensate 
For all the losses earth can show. 




44 




AX OLD FAKM HOUSE. 

X old farm house with ])asture,s wide, 
Sweet with tiowei's on every side, 
A restless lad wlio looking- from out 
The porcli with woodbine twined about 
Wishes, a thoui^ht from out his heart : 
" O, if r only could depart 
From this dull place the world to see, 
Ah ! me, how happy I would be." 



Amid the city's ceaseless din, 

A man who round the world has been, 
45 



AN OLD FA R M HO USE. 

Who, mid the tiininlt and the throng 
Is thinking, wishing, all day long : 
"O, conld I only tread once more 
The field path to the farm house door, 
The old green meadows could I see, 
Ah ! how happy would 1 be." 




46 



TEAR AND SMILE. 




HAT are you?" said a tear 
To a smile playing near; 
" With a flickering shimmer 
You transiently glimmer 
On the meaningless features of mirth ; 
But you nothing express 
Of the anguish and stress 

That make up man's portion on earth." 



" You are rather severe," 

Said the smile to the tear, 
"For as day to shine aright 

Needs a background of night, 

47 



TEAR AND SMILE. 

So grief must be bordered with gladness ; 
And the light of a smile, 
More than once in a while, 

Helps a tear to unbosom its sadness." 







FANCY. 

jjOR if Hope be a star that may lead us astray, 
And "deceiveth the heart," as the aged 
ones preach, 
Yet 'twas Mercy that gave it to beacon our way, 

Though its halo illumines where we never can reach. 

Though Friendship but flit like a meteor gleam, 

Though it burst like a morn-lighted bubble of dew, 

Though it passes away like a leaf on the stream. 
Yet 'tis bliss while we fancy the vision is true. 




49 



HER REST IS SA¥EET. 

On the Death of Mrs. Bradford L. Prim 




NDER the skies of May, out of the smiling day, 
Into the shadows gray must she be borne away ! 
Will it not grieve her? 
Nay, for her rest is sweet, death's wondrous winding- 
sheet. 
Peace, in a calm complete, shrouds her from brow to feet — 

Earth will receive her; 
E'en as a mother's breast shelters her babe to rest. 
Nor will death's lovely guest, passed beyond human 



quest, 



Know that we leave her. 
50 




SELF-ABNEGATION. 

F you should ask me to resign 

My life-long hope — the hope of fame, 
To put away this thing divine 

And cease to work for wealth and name;' 
If you should tell me to awake 

From this sweet dream so long I've had: 
I'd do it all for your dear sake 
And be content and glad. 

If you should say in some far land 

We'd live forever — all alone, 

Away from friends and kith and kin 

And all that I had called my own; 
51 



SELF-ABNEGA TION. 

I'd put my hand in yours, dear love, 
And smile away the rising tears, 

And never sigh for what I'd lost, 
Thro' all the coming years. 




52 




HOPE DEFERRED. 

HE tender trouble of her eyes 

Is born of hope deferred ; the tears 
In witness, of her grief arise, 

From day to day, through all the years. 

And often in her sleep at night 

Are visions beautiful to see, 
And in the darkness there is light, 

And this is half her misery. 

For dreams of vain delight are one 
With weary waking thoughts of pain, 

For when the happy night has gone 
The dreary morning comes again. 
S3 



HOPE DEFERRED. 

And joy and sorrow fill her eyes 

When friends surround her. Sudden tears 
When quiet and alone, arise 

From day to day, through all the years. 




54 




A QUESTION. 

EFORE I link my fate with thee 
Or place my hand in thine, 
Before I let thy future give 
Color and form to mine, 
Before I peril Heaven for thee — 
Question thy soul to-night for me. 

I'll break all other bonds nor feel 

A shadow of regret. 
Is there one link within the past 

That holds thy spirit yet? 

Or is thy faith as clear and free 

As that which I can pledge to thee? 
55 



A QUEST/0 AT. 

Does there within thy dimmest dreams 

A possible future shine, 
Where thy life could henceforth breathe 

Untouched, unshared by mine? 
If so, at' any pain or cost, 

Oh, tell me now before all's lost. 

Look deeper still, if thou canst feel 

Within thy inmost soul 
That thou hast kept a portion back 

While I have staked the whole; 
Let no false pity spare the blow. 
But in mercy tell me so. 

Is there within thy heart a need 

That mine cannot fulfill, 

One chord that any other hand 

Could better wake, or still? 
56 



A QUESTION.^ 

Speak now, lest at some future day 
My soul should wither and decay. 

Lives there Avithin thy nature liid 

The demon sjiirit, change, 
iShedding a [)assing glory still 

On all things new and strange? 
It may not he thy fault alone, 
But shield my poor heart from thy own. 

(buldst thou withdraw thy hand one day 

And answer to my claim 
That Fate, and that this day's mistake, 

Not thou, had heen to blame? 
Some soothe theii- conscience thus, hut thou, 
surely, thou wilt warn me now. 

Nay, answer not. I dare not hear 
Thy words are now too late ; 
57 



A QUESTION. 

Yet I would spare thee all remorse, 

So comfort thee, my Fate. 
Whatever on my heart may fall 
Remember, I will risk it all. 



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58 




BRIDGES— A CONTRAST. 

HAVE a brid^i'e within my heart, 
Known as tlie bridge of sighs; 

It stretches from life's sunny spots 
To where its darkness lies. 



And when upon this l)ridge I stand 

To watch life's tide below. 
Sad thoughts come from tlie shadowy land 

And darkens all its flow. 

Then as it winds its way along 

To sorrow's bitter sea, 

Oh, mournful is the spirit's song 

That upward tloats to me. 
59 



BRIDGES— A CO XT EAST. 

A song which 1)reathes of blessings dead, 
Of friends and friendships flown, 

And ]:)leasures gone — their distant tread 
Now to an eclio grown. 

And hearing thus, beleaguering fears 

Soon shut the jjresent out. 
While joy but in the past appears 

And in the future, dovht. 

Oh! often then will deeper grow 
The night that round nie lies, 

I wish that life had run its liow 
Or never found its rise. 



I HAVE a bridge within my heart 

Known as tlie l)ridge of faith, 

It spans by a mysterious art 

The streams of life and death. 
' 60 



BRIDGES— A CONTRAST. 

And when upon tliis l)rirlge T stand 

And Avatch tlie tide Ijelow, 
Sweet tlionglits come from the sunny land 

And l)rigliten all its flow. 

Then as it winds its way along, 

r)o\vn to the distant sea, 
Oh! })leasant is the s})irit's song 

That upward floats to me. 

A song of hlessings never sere, 

Of love beyond compare. 
Of pleasui'es flowed from troublings here 

To rise serenely there. 

And hearing thus, a j)eace divine 

Soon sluits each sorrow out, 
And all is hopeful and benign 

Where all was fear and doubt. 

6i 



BRIDGES— A CONTRAST. 

0]i ! often then will brighter grow 
The light that round me lies ; 

I see from life's beclouded flow 
A crystal stream arise. 




6? 



FAITH. 



Y future may be dreary 

And bring me toil and pain, 
My heart may oft l^e weary, 

My cup no sweet contain; 
But when the darkest hours appears 

My heart will turn to thee, 
And cast away its doubts and fears, 

For thou wilt pray for me? 





SAINTS AND SINNERS. 

HERE p:<)c's a ^^•()lnan who — lovino- too much, 
Sonieliow or other, ])er]ia])s — became 
Pi(>bahl witli patclies of soot aiul smutched 
^\'itll l)lotches of sin and sliame; 
But I think by the piteous look in lier eyes, 

(Have you seen the eyes of a stricken doe?) 
That down in her heart she moans and cries 
With unutterable woe. 



There goes a column of circumspects — see 

How cleanly and comely and sleek and fair. 
And, unto the ultimate degree, 

Prim and proper they are; 

64 



SA/A'TS AND SINNERS. 

Ah, worldling! you need not })ry nor peck 

Into their natures for fault or tlaw, 
They are not of your kidney, frail and weak, 

They are strong and walk by the law. 

But hark ! They have caught a glim})se of her skirts, 

How keen they are on the scent of sin, 
And the bound in the heart of each asserts 

Itself, and the pack begin. 
Bravely, my masters, mangle her now! 

What to you is her awful stress? 
And not in the daylight dare you avow 

Pity for wretchedness. 

There, there! Enough now, handsomely done, 

How whitely your teeth show when you snort! 

And how like a poor scared deer did run 

(Whither) the frightened girl, 
65 



. SA IN 7^S A N D S INNE R S. 

Whither? But that can be naught to you 
Why was her shadow flung on your path ? 

And heaven of course must be pleased to view 
A strong man's terrible wrath. 

Well, I am a sinner, or what you please, 

And you may be saints for aught I know, 
But I declare, O excellent Pharisees! 

Than whiter than driven snow, 
Compared with you, is the soul you drove 

Hard on the terrible edges of To]jhet; 
And something, I think, was said of love 

Bv some one — Can vou tell ? 





WHEN LOVE IS KIND. 

HEN love is kind, 
C!heerful and free, 
Love's sure to find 
Welcome from me. 

But when love brings 
Heart ache or pang. 

Tears and such things, 
Love may go hang! 

If love can sigh 

For one alone. 

Well pleased am I 

To be that one. 
67 



WHEN LOVE IS KIND. 

But should I see 

Love given to rove 
To two or three, 

Then, good-bye — Love 
Love must, in short. 

Keep fond and true, 
Through good report, 

And evil, too. 

Else, here I swear, 
Young love may go, 

(For aught I care,) 
To Jerichor 





SADNESS. 

Y soul iis sick and lone, 

No social ties its love entwine, 
A heart upon a desert thrown 
Beats not in solitude like mine; 
For though the pleasant sunlight shine 

It shows no form that I may own, 
And closed to me is friendship's shrine, 
I am alone! I am alone! 
I am alone! I am alone! 

It is no joy for me 

To mask the fond and eager meeting 

Of friends whom absence pined, and see 
69 



SJDXESS. 

The love-lit eyes speak forth their g-reeting; 
For then a stilly voice repeating 

AVhat oft luith Avoke the deepest moan, 
Startles my heart and stays its beating, 

1 am alone I 1 am alone! 

1 am alone! I am alone! ' 

I have a heart. J\i live 

And die for him whose worth 1 knew. 
But could not clasp his hand and give 

My full heart forth as talkers do — 
And they who loved me. "the kind few." 

Believeil me changed in heart and lone 
.\.nd left me — while it burned as true. 

To live alone! To live alone! 

To live alone! To live alone! 



70 



TO A FRIEND. 




H, time is bright when roses meet 

With spring's sweet breath around them, 
And sweet .the cost when hearts are lost 

If those we love liave found them. 
And dear the mind that still can find 

A star in darkest weather; 
But, naught can be so sweet to see 
As true friends meet together. 



The few long known that years have shown 

With hearts that friendship blesses, 

A hand to thee, perchance a tear, 

To soothe a friend's distresses, 
71 



TO A FRIEND. 

That helped and tried still side by side, 
A friend to face hard weather; 

Oh, thus may! yet live to see 
Your friend and you together. 




72 





1 



THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. 

IS he who every thought and deed 
By rule of virtue moves, 
Whose generous tongue disdains to speak, 
The thing his heart disproves. 

Who never did a slander forge 
His neighbor's fame to wound. 

Nor hearken to a false report 
By malice whispered 'round. 

Who vice in all its pomp and power 

Can treat with just neglect, 
And piety, though clothed in rags, 

Religiously respect. 

73 



THE TR UE GENTLE MA N. 

Who to his plighted words and trust 

Has ever firmly stood, 
And though he promise to his loss 

He makes his j)romise good. 

Whose soul in usury disdains 

His treasures to employ, 
Whom no rewards can ever bribe, 

The guiltless to destroy. 




74 




CHARITY. 

()\\'E\^EK greatly woman sin, 
However deeply she may fall, 

If we eould only look within, 

The antrel has remained thronuh all. 



We never search for it in vain, 

Altliough its presence may seem hrief, 

8he has a heart for other's pain. 
She looks so pityingly on grief. 

Her thin hand seeks her slender purse, 

When men of wealth pass heedless by, 
In aid of those whose heavy curse 

Have moistened not the virtuous eye. 

75 • 



CHA RITY. 

The lily from the pond'^* foul slime 
Its sustenance and l^eauty draws, 

And smiles in purity meantime 

Governed by Nature's wondrous laws. 

Thus from the very depths of shame 

Humility and grief are given, 
That purify the soul the same 

To deeds and thoughts that look to Heaven. 

The lily feels a thouglitless IjIow, 

Its fragrance rises on the air, 
While its bruised stalk sinks down below 

And dies in gloom and silence there. 

There is many a bruised heart now lies 

Stricken beneath the silent sod, 

Whose shattered ho|)es will thus arise 

Reproaching those who struck, to God. 
76 



MY THOUGHT. 

" I have a bright thought. 
What is it like'.'" 

HAT is my tliou£>-ht like? " Like a bird." 
" Like a wind har]) at eveiiiiio- heard." 
" 'Tis like a bee." " 'Tis like the sun." 
" 'Tis like the eloud encircled moon." 

" Like a kaleidosco})e." " Like fire." 

" 'Tis like the telegra})hic Avire." 

" 'Tis like the crowded merry room." 

■' 'Tis like a monumental tond>." 




So guessed each friend my unknown thought, 
I to this test their guesses brought. 



77 



MY THOUGHT. 

M}" album, is my thoua;lit and word, 
Now why is my album like a bird ? 
A bird? Wliy, sure, it makes a nest 
Where sweet attections meet and rest. 
Why like a Avind harp '.■' It will play 
A^^hen love's soft zephyrs over it stray. 

'Tis like a l)ee, l)ecause it stores 
The gathered sweets of sunny hours ; 
The sun by day — the moon l)y night, 
Yield us the precious boon of light. 
So in the hours of grief and woe 
This book its comforts shall bestow ; 

Like a kaleidoscope 'twill l>e 
When filled, in its variety. 

And like a fire 'twill warm your heart ; 

When from dear friends you live apart, 

78 ' 



MY THO UGHT. 

This record of loved names will be 
A telegraphic wire to thee, 
Touching the electric chain which round 
Our kindred hearts is darkly bound ; 
And surely like the pleasant room 
Where loving hearts' assemblage come. 

'Twill, as you turn its pages o'er, 
Gather your scattered friends once more; 
But as your years glide swiftly on. 
And friends from life, drop one by one, 
This album shall at last become 
Like a sad monumental tomb, 
O'er those who life's rough sea have cros't- 
A Record of the " Loved and Lost." 



79 



THP] MOUNTAINEER'S PRAYER. 




IRI) me with tJie strength of Thy steadfast 
hills, 
The speed of Thy streams give me; 
In that spirit that calms, witli the life that thrills, 

I would stand or run for Thee. 
Let me be Thy voice, or Thy silent power — 

As the cataract, or the peak— 
An eternal thought in my earthly hour, 
Of the loving God to speak. 

Clothe me in the rose-tints of Thy skies 

Upon the mountain summit laid; 

Robe me in the purple and gold that flies 

80 



THE MOUNTAINEER'S PRAYER. 

Thro' Thy shuttles of light and shade. 
Let me rise and rejoice in thy smile aright, 

As mountains and forests do; 
Let me welcome Thy twilight and Thy night, 

And wait for Thy dawn anew. 

Give me of the brook's faith, joyously sung 

Under the clank of its icy chain ; 

Give me the patience that hides 

Among thy hill-tops in mist and rain ; 

f 
Lift me up from the clod ; let me breathe Thy breath, 

Thy beauty's strength give me; 

Let me lose both the name and the meaning of death, 

In the life that I share with Thee, 




8i 




ON THE SEA OF LIFE. 

jjHE flowers hang their dewy heads, the sun 

in glory sinks to rest, 
I And whilst the gold and crimsoned glow is 
fading in the purpled West 
Our barks are loosed from the silvered strand and 

out we drift on the ebbing tide, 
With hope to light us o'er the wave, the star of faith 

to be our guide, 
And from the dim uncertain future, whence in coming 

years we'll gaze, 
How oft we'll long for childhood's home with child- 
hood's bright unclouded days? 
82 



ON THE SEA OF LIFE. 

For round this dear and hallowed spot the angels seem 

to weave a spell, 
As echoed back from mount to mount we hear a low 

and sweet farewell ; 
And as the chords within our hearts receive these 

echoes from above, 
Like harps kissed by the autumn wind, they softly 

breathe their tale of love ; 
Of love that wdll entwine itself around each memory 

of the past 
And cling more closely when 'tis blighted by the 

future's wintry blast. 
Now in the gathering mist of tears, we shrine each 

dear familiar face, 
And through the deepening shades of even strive each 

cherished hand to trace; 
For to our hearts they're sad and lonely as they drift 

upon life's sea, 
And softly bid the sobbing waves to bear their last 

farewell to thee. 

83 




WRITE SOON. 

ONG parting from the hearts we love 

AVill shadow o'er the brightest face, 
And happy they who part and prove 
Affection changes not with place. 

A sad farewell is warmly dear, 

But something dearer may be fomicl 

To dwell on lips that are sincere, 
And lurk in bosom closelj^ bound. 

The pressing hand, the steadfast eye, 
Are both less earnest than the boon 

Which fervently the last fond sigh 

Begs, in the hopeful words, "Write soon.' 



WRITE SOON. 

Write soon! Oh, such sweet request of Truth! 

How tenderly its accents come ! 
We heard it first in early youth 

When mothers watched us leaving home. 

And still amid the trumpet joys 

That weary us with pomp and show, 

We turn from all the brassy noise 
To hear the minor cadence flow. 

We part, but carry on our way 
Some loved one's plaintive spirit-tune 

That, as we wander, seems to say : 

"Affection lives on faith " — Write soon ! 




85 




GRIEF WAS SENT THEE FOR THY GOOD. 

OME there are who seem exempted 

From the doom incurred by all, 
Are they not more sorely, sorely tempted? 

Are they not the first to fall? 
As a mother's firm denial 

Checks her infant's wayward mood, 
Wisdom lurks in every trial — 

Grief was sent thee for thy good. 

In the scenes of former pleasure 
Present anguish thou has felt, 

O'er thy fond heart's dearest treasure 
As a mourner thou hast knelt. 



GRIEF WAS SENT THEE FOR THY GOOD. 

Injthine hour of deep affliction 
Let no impious thoughts intrude, 

Meekly bow, with this conviction — 
Grief M^as sent thee for thy good. 




87 



BEWILDERING EYES. 




HOSE eyes of golden brown 

How soft their splendor is! 
When seen, those shining orbs all through 

My thoughts arrive at this. 
I think a seraph has come down 

To gladden mortal men, 
And from some airy height has flown 

Where ages she has been. 



Such eyes, for all, have loveliest charm 
Though often dangerous prove. 

Through all their glances, I affirm, 
Beam looks of fondest love. 



BEWILDERING EYES. 

Bewildering eyes of golden brown, 
They pierce one through the heart 

Whose easy smile, or matchless frown, 
Bids all our sense depart. 





PARTED. 

E sang together, you and I, 

In the village church sweet songs of praise ; 
Your voice was like an angel's voice, 
Your face was an angel's face. 

We knelt together, you and I, 

In that dear old church in sight of heaven; 
And you j)rayed a prayer that the angels know, 

That sin may be forgiven. 

We walked together, you and I, 

In the happy groves where wood birds sing ; 

But sweeter were the pleasant words 

That you kept murmuring. 
90 



PARTED. 

They beat in time with our glad hearts, 
Old words they were from some old song; 

Laughing, you sang them, all for me 
As we two wandered on. 

We talked together, you and I, 

Wise things you spoke for one so young ; 

I listened, feeling all the while 
That on your words a story hung. 

We lived together, you and I, 

In those vanished years, two friends, no more; 
Did you ever dream of what was to be 

Could we span the years that were on before ? 

If we loved together, you and I, 

Was it wise the love was never told? 

Was it better to let the time glide on 
Till both life and love were old? 



91 



A SIMILE. 




HE night has a thousand eyes, 

The day has but one; 
Yet the hght of the whole world dies 

With the setting sun. 
The soul has a thousand eyes, 

The heart but one; 
Yet the light of a whole soul dies 

When love is done. 




92 




IF THERE BE. 

|F there be a garden fair, where the zephyr 
blows, 
Where each season's flowers rare, beauties 
new disclose, 
Where we gather and entwine, lily, jessamine, colum- 
bine ; 
There I'd make the pathway shine, for thy foot's repose. 
If there be a loving breast wherein honor glows, 
Whose devotion through all test no abatement knows, 
If this breast free from deceit, ever with high purpose 

beat; 
There I'd make the pillow meet, for thy head's repose. 

93 




THE OLD CHURCHYARD. 

REATHE soft and low — whispering wind ! 

Above the tangled grasses deep, 
Where those who loved me long ago 

Forgot the world and fell asleep. 
No towering shaft or sculptured urn, 

Nor mausoleum's empty pride. 
Tells to the curious passer-by 

Their virtues, or the time they died. 

I count the old familiar names, 

O'ergrown with moss and lichen gray, 

Where tangled brier and creeping vine 
Across the crumbling tablets stray. - 

94 



THE OLD CHURCHYARD. 

The summer sky is soft and blue 

The birds still sing the sweet old strain, 

But, something from the summer-time 
Is gone, that will not come again. 

So many voices have been hushed, 

So many songs have ceased for aye, 
So many hands I used to touch 

Are folded over hearts of clay. 
The nois}'^ world recedes from me, 

I cease to hear its praise or blame, 
The mossy marbles echo back 

No hollow sound of empty fame. 

I only know that calm and still 

They sleep, beyond life's woe and wail. 
Beyond the fleet of sailing clouds — 

Beyond the shadow of the vale. 
I only feel that tired and worn 

I halt upon the highway bare, 
And gaze with yearning eyes beyond 

To fields that shine supremely fair. 
95 



A COMMON WOMAN. 




COMMON woman ! I've heard it said, 

By women wlio knew far less than she, 
But, wherein they find her not well bred 

Is soipething I never well can see. 
Her face indeed is rather plain. 

And her manner unpretending enough, 
Yet with civil treatment these might gain, 

If her dress were only of finer stuff". 

Intelligent ! Yes, that is to say, 

With a knowledge of human nature learned 

From nature's volume, by the way. 

And wisdom by experience earned. 
96 



A COMMON WOMAN. 

For every line of the careworn face 
Speaks character tried, a lifelong test, 

And it gives to homely features a trace 
Of refinement, even in tranquil rest. 

Her conversation does not turn 

In a flippant way on serious things, 
Nor take on an air of grand concern, 

Discussing the trifles each day oft brings. 
Her garments are often faded and worn, 

And her hat not always a la mode, 
But she's graceful as one "to the manor born" 

As she consciously walks in the upright road. 

Envoi. 

Oh, when will the beau-monde learn to admire 

True merit, whatever garb it's in? 
For homely dress, or gay attire. 

Speaks naught of the living soul within. 



97 




MEMORY. 

|HOU canst not forget me! for memory will 
fling 
Her light o'er oblivion's dark sea, 
And wherever thou roamest, a something will cling 
To thy bosom that whispers of me. 
Though the chords of thy spirit I never may sweep, 

Of my touch they'll retain a soft thrill. 
Like the low undertone of the murmuring deep 
When the wind that has stirred it is still. 

The love that is kept in the beauty of trust 
Cannot pass like the foam from the seas, 

Or a mark that the finger has made in the dust 
When 'tis swept by the breath of the breeze. 



MEMOR Y. 

They tell me, my love, thou wilt calmly resign, 

Yet I ever while listening to them 
Will sigh for the heart that was linked unto mine 

As a rosebud is linked to its stem. 

Thou canst not forget me! Too long hast thou flung 

Thy spirit's soft pinions o'er mine, 
Too deep was the promise that round my lips clung 

As they softly responded to thine. 
In the dusk of the twilight, beneath the blue sky, 

My presence will mantle thy soul, 
And a feeling of softness will rush to thine eye 

Too deep for thy manhood's control. 

Thou mayst go to the islands of beauty and fame, 
Far, far from the "Land of the Free," 

Yet each wind that floats round thee will whisper a 
name 
That is softer than music to thee. 



99 



MEMORY. 

And when round thee darkly misfortunes shall crowd, 
Thou'lt think, like the beautiful form 

Of the rainbow, that arches the thick tempest cloud, 
My love would have brightened the storm. 

Thou canst not forget me! The passion that dwells 

In the depths of the soul cannot die, 
With the memory of all thou hast murmured and 
felt, 

In thy bosom 'twill slumbering lie. 
Thou mayst turn to another and wish to forget, 

But that wish will not bring thee repose — 
For ! thou wilt find that the thorns of regret 

"Were but hid by the leaves of the rose. 





HEAVEN. 

HERE'S a morn of light awaking 

Where immortelles deck hill and glade 
Which dawns on our expectant vision; 
Flowers bloom there and never fade. 

There we gain life's compensation, 

Sorrows are exchanged for joy, 
Hopes once withered bloom in beauty. 

Pleasures tasted never cloy. 

In that home of life's fruition 

Rainbow tints each cloud doth curl, 

And the drops of heart blood anguish, 
There become bright shining pearls. 



HEAVEN. 

Crippled age comes back to manhood, 
Steps once feeble now are strong, 

Health and beauty crown each forehead, 
Sobs of anguish change to song. 

Hallelujahs now re-echo 

All along the sounding shore. 

Mortals catch the reverberation, 
Welding links for evermore. 





A FRAGMENT. 




A8TEI) all, entirely wasted, 

Has my life gone out from me 
Like rare wine from broken bottles, 
Slipping slowly to the sea. 




©HE 6IND. 



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